Shown here is Dr. Ralph W. Davis (left), chief surgeon at Audubon Hospital, Audubon, N.J. He is shown with Max Joseph Bonsted, W2EQ, who facilitated a transoceanic medical consultation. An unidentified soldier was dying of injuries sustained in a plane crash, on Palmyra Island, 6000 miles away. There was no doctor on the island, so a government weather observer used his amateur radio to contact Bonsted. The men treating the soldier followed Dr. Davis’ instructions, and they reported back that he seemed to be improving.

The photo appeared 75 years ago this month in the September 1947 issue of Radio News.